Shelly Cayette is starting International Women’s Day off right. According to AfroTech, the Cleveland Cavaliers promoted Cayette to executive vice president and chief operating officer of the franchise. The promotion marks Cayette as the first Black woman to hold the latter position for an NBA team.
Cleveland Cavaliers promote Shelly Cayette-Weston to executive vice president and chief operating officer, per @sbjsbd.
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 26, 2022
She is the first Black woman to hold this role with an NBA team 👏 @HighlightHER
(via @cavs) pic.twitter.com/9mwUKMEs8z
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Cayette joined the team back in 2012. Prior to her promotion, she was the senior vice president of global partnerships. Cayette’s work garnered the attention of the sports world, and in 2021, she grabbed a spot in the Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list, Black Enterprise reports.
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A former basketball player herself, Cayette has extensive professional experience in the NBA world. She got her start in 2007 when she landed a position in the marketing department with the New Orleans Hornets.
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“Shelly Cayette is both a game-changer and a leader of the highest caliber,” Nic Barlage, the Cavaliers’ president of business operations and Rock Entertainment Group’s chief operating officer, said in a statement about Cayette’s promotion, according to Black Enterprise. “This promotion is a reflection of not only those qualities and the business success she has generated, but the person she is and how she has impacted so many other members of our organization, our community and our industry.”
